"When you think about taking a blade to your wrist or to your leg to the point where you need stitches, you don't think your child is capable of doing that," explains Chloe's mom, Adrianne Weisberg. "There are a couple of times that she came very close to hitting an artery."

Trying to cope with a traumatic incident, Chloe started self-harming at age 10.

Her mom admits she was naive.

"Her self-harm at that age was running into a wall or falling down and feeling she liked that pain at that moment when it would happen," says Weisberg.

Soon, Chloe's self-harm turned to cutting, and Weisberg made a scary discovery.

"I had her iPad and the cover fell off of it and in the cover was a number written on a script pad from her pediatrician. So I called the number, and the guy on the other line answered 'suicide hotline.' My heart sank."

In a frantic online search for help, one piece of information remained consistent: Weisberg needed to start a conversation with her daughter.

"When she came home, I said look, I found this out, and she said I am so glad you know now. She felt like a weight has been lifted off of her," says Weisberg.

Twenty percent of middle schoolers have tried some type of self-harming behavior. Cutting is more common among girls, while boys are more prone to create bruises by hitting themselves.

All are compulsive behaviors trying to interrupt strong emotions that can seem impossible to tolerate.

"Intentional self-injury, self-harm, are all common terms that refer to the intentional injury of body tissue without the intent to die. This is really difficult to capture because self-harm is often done in secret," explains Karen Buckner, director of Children's Community Services at the David Lawrence Center in Naples.

Because clothing can hide physical injuries, parents need to be aware of other red flags.

Look for frequent "accidents," isolation, irritability, changes in relationships or problems in school.

"I know what it's like to wake up every morning and not know if my daughter's going to be alive behind that door. I went through that for over a year of not knowing what's going to happen," says Weisberg.

Chloe's recovery is day by day. It has been six months since she hurt herself last. Her support system is helping every step of the way.

"They are not going away, and there's no treatment to make those go away. She's stuck with them for life. Whenever she wears a bathing suit or has kids, she's going to have to explain and be secure with who she is," says Weisburg

For a year, Chloe has received treatment at the David Lawrence Center.

Together in weekly sessions, she and her mom are gaining communication skills to combat the inner-struggle.

"If we hadn't found David Lawrence Center and been put in the programs, I can't say for certain if Chloe would still be with me," explains Weisburg.

Research on self-harm started in the 1980s, but in recent years, movies and TV shows have drawn attention to it.

This attention is prompting a greater numbers of teens and tweens to try it and more young people to come forward for help.